Welcome to the Fishing Report. It is very foggy and cool this morning. I can see a couple of mountain peaks but the bases are hidden. Townsend is quiet. It’s that time of year. We have been busy getting anglers ready for trips to the Western Rockies. I’ve talked to more customers lately who went to Alaska this year. People are traveling again. I expect to see a busy Fall here in town. That would be good.

Little River looks perfect. The water temperature is 64 degrees this morning in town. That is cooler than it has been in a while. In the Park it is cooler than that. Fishing is good and getting better. We are blessed with plenty of water this year. Today the flow in Little River below the “Y” is 230 cubic feet per second. Normal for this date is 114 cfs and the lowest recorded flow on this date over the past 44 years was 23 cfs year before last.

You should be able to catch trout on dry flies or nymphs. I would fish around Elkmont or the Middle Prong of Little River on the gravel road above the Institute. Hike up above Elkmont and you should find solitude and active trout. I would start with terrestrial patterns. I’m thinking a foam beetle as a dry with a Green Weenie dropper would do the trick. That’s probably all you would need to do.

I’ve talked to customers who are planning backpacking or car camping trips. It is time for that special activity. The nights are getting cooler which makes tent camping comfortable and fun. Add to that the good fishing and you have an inexpensive fly fishing vacation.

Our store traffic has been high and business is darned good. Yesterday seemed like a Saturday. We were busy as heck on Friday and Saturday. It seems we are getting back to pre-recession business. And, it’s not just us. Other fly shops in our region are busy again. I know for sure that Nashville and Atlanta are kicking back into high gear just like we are. So is Florida.

People are feeling better and more secure. The Dow ended the trading day Friday at over 9500 points. The S & P 500 closed at a ten month high. Futures trades early this morning indicate another strong rally in the markets today. I have been in business since 1973. I have seen many recessions and many recoveries. They were all different and driven by many reasons and sector failures. And this recession has been unique mainly due to the banking and housing collapse. But, we always bounce back. And this time, it is apparently recovering faster than I would have thought. A big dose of bad news could turn us back down. But many economists think we have turned. Consumers and investors are feeling that way too. We’ll see what happens in the cash registers around the world over the next few weeks.

Almost every time I write about business getting better or the economy improving I get e-mail from folks saying the Government, New York Stock Exchange, The Wall Street Journal and economists are all in cahoots and making up the good news. I don’t know how to comment or answer those e-mails or I would. I just don’t know what to say.

How many of you have made the Green Power Switch? That is one of the first things I would like for us to do when we know that business is back. Tennessee Valley Authority’s green power campaign is getting fairly popular. The way I understand it is, you buy blocks of kilowatt hours at an extra $4 per 150 kwh and you are supporting green power growth for the future. It’s like making a donation. Here is a list of the larger donors: http://www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch/bizlist1.htm

To get on that list you have to buy 375 blocks at $4 each or more. That’s a minimum of $1,500. And if I understand that correctly, that money will be used to expand wind, solar and methane electricity production.

At the bottom of the page click on Green Power Friends. That is a list of companies, churches and organizations who have bought 5 blocks or more. That just takes a $20 donation I think. I’ll sign up for that. I’m going to do a lot more reading before signing up but it seems like a good idea right now.

I will be working on the Little River Journal this week. So, I may not check e-mail or answer the phone much this week. It is a big job and when I get interrupted I can’t get back on track for a while. So, I’ll be in isolation until the end of the month. Today I’m going to tie and photograph the Puglisi Threadfin Shad. It is one of the most “killer” patterns I’ve ever used. It will be hard to describe the steps because they are different from what a lot of us have done in the past. I’ll give it a try though.